Headlocked Hits Kickstarter with Wrestling and Comic Superstars

(Albany, NY)Headlocked, the acclaimed wrestling comic book drama, from Michael Kingston and Visionary Comics, has launched a Kickstarter in support of the next volume of the popular series. This second campaign continues the popular “The Last Territory” arc, launched with the highly successful first run.

Writer Michael Kingston and artist/wrestler Michel Mulipola return to continue their gritty coming-of-age story chronicling a former theater major’s journey to break into the wrestling business. Kingston explains why they’re returning to Kickstarter: “Based on the reception we’ve gotten, I know there is an audience for the book. So for us, Kickstarter has allowed us to reach that audience and essentially generate enough ‘sales’ to produce the series in a reasonably expedient fashion with the high quality that both the readers and the story deserve.”

The first volume, featuring a stunning Norman Rockwell homage painted by WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler, has been very well received by both wrestling and comic book fans alike.

Kickstarter backers received a special bonus edition featuring short comic stories by wrestling stars Hurricane Helms, Rob Van Dam, and Christopher Daniels as well as art from Ken Anderson, Sam Shaw, Sinn Bodhi, Scott Lost, and Rob Schamberger. “We try to go above and beyond to reward the backers for their support. The success of our Kickstarters is essentially the lifeblood of this series. So we try to give the backers something special as a reward for literally bringing this series to life.”

To that end, as with Volume 1, Volume 2 features Kickstarter-exclusive content produced by some of the biggest wrestlers in the industry. WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas, WWE superstar Booker T, and former WWE superstar Caylen Croft are contributing art while former WWE superstar John Morrison and ROH standouts AJ Styles & Frankie Kazarian are penning short stories for the series.

For comic book fans, Kingston has lined up a bevy of industry superstars to lend their artistic talents. Jill Thompson (Sandman, Beasts of Burden) returns to provide art for the credits pages while Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), Jamal Igle (Supergirl), Box Brown (Andre the Giant), Mark Poulton (Savage Hawkman) and Ramon Villalobos (Original Sins) sign-on with the latest volume!

Despite the star power attached to the book, Kingston knows they have a lot of work ahead of them to win over longtime comic book fans. “I know given their sordid history that the phrase ‘wrestling comic’ doesn’t have the best connotation with people, but that was the reason I wanted to write Headlocked in the first place. I can promise you that this isn’t like any other wrestling comic. Everyone associated with the book is passionate about wrestling, comics, and art. I think that really shines through in the product that we put out.”

For those that missed the first volume, the folks at Headlocked have you covered, with tiers to get just the first book as a starting point, or caught up with both.